Iran will cold test its redesigned Arak IR-40 nuclear reactor as prelude to fully commissioning it later in the year, Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation said.

Spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi was quoted by local media as saying cold testing at te plant, 200 km southwest of Tehran, will take place early in the Iranian new year that begins this Sunday.

The IR-40 is a 40-MW (thermal) heavy water reactor under construction near Arak, next to the 1990s era Arak heavy water production plant. Civil works for the construction began in October 2004. It was initially planned that the reactor would begin nuclear operations in 2014.